Monthly Archives: October 2017

Week #163 – Ten Weeks to Happyness! (Don’t pretend…make plans: “Go get your wings!”)

"He's got his wings." (photo credit: Grace Church)

“Got his wings.” (photo credit: Grace Church)

Week #163 – Ten Weeks to Happyness! (Don’t pretend…make plans: “Go get your wings!”)

This has turned into an annual re-post — because it’s worth repeating!  (You can find the original here!)  

There are exactly TEN Fridays left in 2017 — and where better to begin the Ten Weeks to Happyness countdown than with this refrain:

“Don’t dream it…be it!”

To recap the backstory: for Rob’s wake, a work friend of mine (who didn’t even know Rob) drove nearly two hours to attend his viewing.  While Jim H. waited patiently on line he saw the photos of the planes, Rob’s pilot log, his flight suit — and on the word board he wrote:

“He’s finally got his wings!”

Jim’s comment echoes as a poetic completion of Rob’s long held desire to BE a pilot.  And Rob didn’t just dream about it…he pursued it.  He spent time at airports, around planes, talking shop with pilots, logging hours, and enduring long hot summer days on the tarmac at airshows.  I still will never really know what it meant to a boy who never traveled very far from home to be miles high in the air with nothing but a propeller to keep him going!  But it made him happy…and he planned around it…and that was enough for me to believe he could be it!

Are you making pretend…or making plans?

Halloween is a day for pretending…pretending to be fierce or funny, scary or sexy.  To masquerade our secret selves…or maybe even disguise our real ones.  But look closer: is there more to your costume than an attempt to collect candy or win an award?  Is there a dream or desire or longing behind that mask that represents a calling to BE something more in your every day life?

Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: Don’t dream it…BE IT!  I’ll ask you again…if your “costume” became your clothing on November 1st and beyond…what would you pick?  What props or clues, habits or traits would you need to let people know…this is who I am, this is who I was meant to BE.  Then ask yourself…what is the ONE NEXT THING you can do to go from pretending to planning?  Write it down — and DO IT this weekend.

Don’t pretend…MAKE PLANS!  Go get your wings!

Spread Happyness — share your dream, your plans, and your support of others in the comments!

10/27/17 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com

Week #162 – “To Whom It May Concern…” (Say “Thank You” this week!)

Week #162 – “To Whom It May Concern…” (Say “Thank You” this week!)

Greetings Happyness Tribe!

This past week I’ve was reminded of the simple art of praising loudly.

  • Someone I know who works in sales received a letter from a customer (sent to the boss) praising his above-and-beyond efforts during a requisition.
  • Someone else I know who works in a restaurant received a nice note written on the bottom of their credit card slip thanking him for his excellent service (and hopefully accompanied by a nice big tip!).
  • And finally, a performer at a local venue took the time to publicly thank the facility’s staff for taking care of him and making him feel so welcome.

Three separate incidents…absolutely no cost to anyone…and plenty of benefit to go around.

It’s easy to complain.  It’s easy to notice what is wrong, what might not be up to par, or what was missed.

And the internet has made it SO convenient — we can even do it anonymously!

But it’s a lot more fun catching people doing things right!  There are probably people you encounter every day who take care of you, who serve you first, who meet your needs without you even asking or saying a word.

Have you thanked them?

Have you let them know you appreciate them?

Have you praised them?  Loudly?  Publicly?

Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: Say “Thank You!”  Be on the lookout for people doing things right this week!  And when you find them, be sure to thank them — loudly and publicly!  Be specific…and let them know what made the difference.  Our culture is saturated in complaints, criticisms, and score-keeping.  Be one of the good guys this week and let someone know you see them, you appreciate them, and you’re not afraid to say something nice!

Spread Happyness — catch someone doing something right this week!

10/20/17 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com

Week #161 – “Roll Me Away!” (Listen to your longings this week!)

“Rollin’ away down the shore!” (photo credit: Grace Church)

Week #161 – “Roll Me Away!” (Listen to your longings this week!)

Good Afternoon, Everyone — and Happy Friday!

I’ve been taking care of some long-overdue to-dos these past few weeks.  It feels like 2016 (yes, that’s LAST year) just will not let me go!

And while I have gotten quite a few important and somewhat urgent things done — one thing slipped through the cracks completely: my motorcycle endorsement.

And I’m not happy about it.

When I moved to California last year, I had a year to take the written test again in order to transfer the endorsement.  The year passed, and I never retested.  I haven’t confirmed anything with the DMV yet…but I’m afraid it might be gone.

I know that in the grand scheme of things…this isn’t important.  There are some really sad, complicated, and important issues going on in our world right now.  But it was my brother who taught me to ride.  Who helped me achieve a life-long dream of getting my license and riding solo!  That “M” represented an awful lot of him.

And there is part of me that feels I lost another piece of him this week.

But there is another part that knows for sure…I will take a class, I will retest, and I will ride again!

Which reminded me of this post from Week #18.  Because try as we might…we can’t be perfectly happy all the time.  Longing is part of the human condition…it’s what keeps us dreaming, keeps us envisioning, keeps us journeying to find out what’s beyond that next bend in the road…and then over those hills…and then out further along that plain…

So, once again Bob Seger’s words speak to me: “Next time…we’ll get it right!”

Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead:  When you come across something you “aren’t happy about” — don’t just settle for unhappiness!  Identify the longing…and use it to get focused on what you want.  Then, get a theme song to inspire you!  When I was leaving my corporate job, I listened to Boston’s “Don’t Look Back” every single day on my way to work to remind me that my future was AHEAD of me…not behind me!  Now, it will be Bob Seger’s “Roll Me Away” as I set off to recover my endorsement.  Maybe for you it’s a workout song…or a vacation-starts-today-song…or an interview song.

Whatever it is, try it…and tell me about your “escape” song in the comments!

Spread Happyness — listen to your longings this week!

10/13/17 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com

 

Week #160 – Q4 is Here! (What do you have left to do in 2017?)

Q4-2017 (photo credit: Grace Church)

Week #160 – Q4 is Here! (What do you have left to do in 2017?)

Greetings Tribe — and Happy Friday!

With the flip of a calendar page to October 2017 — we have made the turn into the fourth quarter of 2017.

There are three months and exactly 13 Fridays left in the year.

A dozen weeks to finish STRONG!

If you’ve been keeping up with your dreams and goals…good for you!!!  Hopefully you’ve been keeping track, as well: gratitudes, achievements, highlights, benchmarks, photos, accomplishments.

(If not, don’t worry.  Check out Week #68 for some surefire ways to remember these things!)

As I wrote last year about this time, the turn into October is usually a white-flag moment for me: the last lap.  A time to stop, take stock, and set a course for Q4 — the finish line of the calendar year.

Last year, October got away from me.  A few significant deadlines, the holidays, the debates, a trip to the DMV…and before I knew it, it was Halloween!

(And Halloween is a slippery slope into the holidays and the end of the year!)

So this year, I’m not waiting!  A friend posed this question to me last week, and I’ll share it with you:

What do you have left to do this year — that you don’t want to take into 2018?

Your Happyness Challenge for the week ahead: What do you have left to do in 2017?  Is there something you still need to do that is nagging at you?  If so…you’ve got a full three months to get it done!  Don’t take unfinished business into the new year.  Break it down into a dozen steps…share it with a friend…find yourself a buddy…get to work…and get it DONE!

Most important…keep collecting the good stuff!  Keep on keeping track of the good stuff!  Because we need more of that.  More focus on the wins.  More focus on what’s right.  More focus on loving our lives — so that we can live our lives more fully.

“Give yourself the gift of done!”  (Jon Acuff)

Spread Happyness — share your thoughts and plans for Q4 in the comments!

10/6/16 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com